Apple Inc. market value beats Google's Alphabet

The Apple logo is seen on the facade of the new Apple Store in Paris, France, January 5, 2017.
Reuters/Charles Platiau

Apple Inc.'s current market value costs US$699 billion (AU$909 billion) placing the company on top with a closing stock at US$133.29 (AU$173.46) per share. The company has surpassed its record in February 2015 with US$133 (AU$173.09) per share. The all-time high record has also set the company to beat Alphabet Inc., Google's parent, which is now in the second spot. Alphabet's current market value is US$537 billion (AU$692 billion).

According to investors and analysts, several factors such as improved sales in China, streaming music subscriptions and surging sales have buoyed Apple's stocks. However, they noted that the renewed enthusiasm of investors in the new iPhone served as the biggest factor in increasing the market value of the company.

Kantar Worldpanel said that iPhone was the best-selling smartphone in China. Its sales growth has helped the company's revenue to be stabilised after it experienced three quarters of decline. It has given the investors the assurance that China is not falling off a cliff.

Services including Apple Music and iCloud has helped the company's revenue to grow 18 percent to US$7.2 billion (AU$9.3 billion), according to a recent report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, including Apple, increased by 20,400 while the equity market buoyed the company's stock.

"Apple is really an iPhone business. The next [iPhone] cycle should be strong." Sean Stannard-Stockton, chief investment officer at Ensemble Capital Management, said. In fact, iPhone has helped the company to propel accounting for three-fourths of operating profit and two-thirds of sales.

Tim Cook, the company's CEO, said that there was a strong demand for the iPhone 7 Plus that made up a higher-than-expected share of sales. However, iPhone 7 failed to convince existing customers to upgrade but it has attracted new customers to buy. But UBS said that about 85 to 90 percent of the 600 million iPhone users would upgrade in the coming years. The iPhone 7 has surged Apple shares by 11 percent in its first full week after unveiling. It showed a significant difference when the first model was released as it only gained a median of 4.3 percent.

Financial company FactSet said that Apple shares were relatively inexpensive even after the recent run-up. Other technology stocks in the S&P 500 traded about 23 times of earnings but Apple only traded at roughly 16 times. It was below Apple's 10-year average of 21 times earning. "It's gone from a growth stock that was largely overvalued to a value stock," Jack Brown of Aviance Capital Partners LLC said.